I have to admit, as a Dem watching the leadership races among House Republicans, I’m a little disappointed that there hasn’t been more viciousness. This was supposed to be a time for GOP fissures to surface as members attacked one another for personal gain. And yet, there are two top contenders for the Majority Leader post, and three for the Majority Whip post, and if there’s been any Swiftboating, it’s been almost entirely low-key and behind the scenes.
Maybe John Shadegg will shake things up a bit.
Arizona Rep. John Shadegg entered the race for House majority leader Friday, saying he would offer real, substantive ethics reforms in the wake of Republican scandals.
Shadegg shakes up the race for majority leader, which has been a contest between Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt and Ohio Rep. John Boehner. Embattled Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, stepped down temporarily in September after he was indicted on charges of laundering campaign funds. DeLay announced Saturday that he would not try to regain the No. 2 House Republican leadership position.
Shadegg has said he doesn’t have confidence that the two leading contenders for the position would help the House bring about enough meaningful reforms. Blunt, who has held been interim majority leader since fall, and Boehner both claim to have around 100 supporters, although they have not made all the names public. To win the post requires 116 votes in the 231-member GOP caucus.
Shadegg, who’s giving up his position as Republican policy chairman to run for DeLay’s old job, is positioning himself as the “fresh face” alternative to two establishment Republicans with extensive ties to DC lobbyists and a checkered ethical past.
Will this work? Maybe. Shadegg, who came to Congress in the ’94 class, is more of the fire-breathing variety. In 2004, for example, he delighted GOP convention attendees by describing Michael Moore as the “anti-Christ.”
For that matter, Shadegg seems to take his conservative ideology more seriously than his party. He voted against Bush’s Medicare bill, routinely rails against Republican spending, and was livid when the White House hinted it’d consider “add on” accounts as part of a Social Security “reform” plan (Shadegg wanted pure privatization).
Shadegg’s entry into the Majority Leader race will, at a minimum, make the contest more interesting than it’s been.